ARCHIVED - Bust of Roman Emperor Hadrian found at Yecla site

The 1900-year-old sculpture is going on display at the Museo Arqueológico de Yecla

A marble bust of the Roman Emperor Hadrian which was found at the Los Torrejones site in Yecla is set to go on display this coming weekend at the town’s archaeological museum.

The white marble sculpture was discovered during the dig at Los Torrejones which ran from October to December, and the only other similar pieces known to exist are in collections owned by the British Museum, the Prado in Madrid, the Museum of Israel and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Hadrian (full name Publius Aelius Hadrianus Augustus), best known in the UK for the Wall he ordered to be built in Northumbria and Cumbria to separate Romans from “Barbarians”, was Emperor of Rome from 117 to 138 AD, having been born in what is now the province of Sevilla in Spain.

The 52-centimetre-high figure discovered in Yecla is believed to date from the year 135, and shows the Emperor with a beard, curly hair set in waves and his head tilted slightly to the left.

This is yet another example of the wealth of historical items and treasures which probably still lie buried in the Region of Murcia, and was found alongside another smaller figure depicting a woman which is still being studied. Both were lying at the entrance of a large building whose exact purpose has not yet been established, but it is known to have had something to do with the use of water. Other fragments excavated show that the same building was adorned with various decorative marble elements.

Investigations are still ongoing, but among the theories being put forward is that the structure could have been one in which the Emperor was worshipped, or that the owners of Los Torrejones may have been close to Hadrian in some way.

The Los Torrejones site consists of a rural Roman villa complex, which included a “monumental area”, in which the owner lived, and a “service area” which was home to the workforce on the agricultural land around it. This is one of five such sites found in the municipality of Yecla, the others being El Pulpillo, Marisparza, Casa de la Ermita and Fuente del Pinar, and there are also known to have been at least two other Roman settlements at Casas de Almansa and Casa de las Cebollas, both of them inns and hostelries rather than full-blown villas.

All of these sites are known to have been occupied between the 1st and 4th centuries AD, although at Los Torrejones there were still residents right up to the 6th century, when the local population gradually came to live in and around the complex and it was far better fortified than it had been previously.

Archaeological work at Los Torrejones began as long ago as 1842, and there is known to have been another dig in 1879. The big breakthrough came by accident, when in 1957 during agricultural digging an extraordinary 4th-century geometrical mosaic was uncovered. This is known to have been part of an extensive thermal complex, and can still be seen in the Museo Arqueológico de Yecla.

Excavation at Los Torrejones is an ongoing project, and there are hopes that another dig can be scheduled for the latter months in 2015.